hi guys, im trying to book seat reservations for a few trains -
10th Dec 2022: EC 52 from Milan Centrale to Spiez
14th Dec 2022: TGV Lyria from Basel to Paris
but there are no results shown on the Eurail app. It says that they don’t have train times for these dates yet as they are waiting for a timetable update. Any idea how long that will take or where else can i book my reservations other than the Eurail app?
Thanks
Best answer by Angelo
Hi, from 11 December 2022 like every second Sunday in December in Europe there is the timetable change for trains.
The new timetable is getting online on the websites of the train operators, but some trains are missing. Eurail.com has not yet the new timetable.
EC:
In your case, should be possible to book the EC 52 Milano C.le - Spiez, but the timetable for the train is missing. Maybe works on the rail line, and they are waiting with the timetable changes due to works? You could also take local trains RE to Domodossola and change there on RE direction Brig or Bern and exit in Spiez. On local trains reservation is not needed. I would check the timetable 2-3 weeks before, if the local trains will have busses instead or something similar due to works or have the Italian train company Trenitalia only forget to put to timetable online. Check it every week for new timetables. If you see something new and you have questions, ask us here in the community. On top I will give you the information that italian trains and trains Italy-Switzerland are possible to book the reservation via ÖBB instead of eurail.com. Check how it works here:
TGV:
In your case I would wait for the timetable of the TGV, till eurail.com can sell it, or you take from Basel a TER to Mulhouse or Strasbourg and get there on the TGV to Paris. From there you pay only 10 EUR or 20 EUR and it is possible to book it now via travel.b-europe (+4 EUR booking fee) instead of waiting for eurail.com. TER local train is the reservation not needed.
Here is some useful information from the experienced travellers in the Community regarding both planning, reservations and activation of pass and travel days.
Planning
The rail planner is normally not up to date, as it only is updated once a month, so to be sure of the time table you better check the timetable and availability on the websites of the national railways. The bigger national railways, like DB (Germany) SBB (Switzerland) and ÖBB (Austria) cover several countries.
Reservations
The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is to use other ways to make reservations than the Interrail/Eurail website. You can look at the guide in the link:
https://community.eurail.com/train-connections-reservations-47/how-to-get-reservations-105
If you, after having looked at the guide, have questions about how to make specific reservation, please give your travel details (departure date, time and route) preferably in a new topic, and you will get advice.
Please note that Interrail/Eurail charges an extra fee of 2 EUR per person and train in addition to the fee for the seat reservation.
Activation of pass
During the activation process, when you choose the start day of the validity of the pass, the first day of the validity period is automatically made a travel day, even if you don't enter a journey, the advice is therefore not to activate the pass before the first travel day as you only can deactivate the pass before 00.00 on the day the validity starts. If your travel plans change in the last moment you will loose travel days if you have activated the pass in advance.
It can be wise to make a test and activate the pass with a start date well in the future and then deactivate the pass immediately, just to see that everything works.
Activation of travel day
The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is also never to activate a travel day, that is connect a journey to your pass and create the ticket (QR code), until just before boarding the train, otherwise you might loose a travel day if your travel plans change in a late stage You can't delete a travel day in the past. A travel day can only be deleted until 23.59 CET the day before the travel day.
+10Hi, from 11 December 2022 like every second Sunday in December in Europe there is the timetable change for trains.
The new timetable is getting online on the websites of the train operators, but some trains are missing. Eurail.com has not yet the new timetable.
EC:
In your case, should be possible to book the EC 52 Milano C.le - Spiez, but the timetable for the train is missing. Maybe works on the rail line, and they are waiting with the timetable changes due to works? You could also take local trains RE to Domodossola and change there on RE direction Brig or Bern and exit in Spiez. On local trains reservation is not needed. I would check the timetable 2-3 weeks before, if the local trains will have busses instead or something similar due to works or have the Italian train company Trenitalia only forget to put to timetable online. Check it every week for new timetables. If you see something new and you have questions, ask us here in the community. On top I will give you the information that italian trains and trains Italy-Switzerland are possible to book the reservation via ÖBB instead of eurail.com. Check how it works here:
TGV:
In your case I would wait for the timetable of the TGV, till eurail.com can sell it, or you take from Basel a TER to Mulhouse or Strasbourg and get there on the TGV to Paris. From there you pay only 10 EUR or 20 EUR and it is possible to book it now via travel.b-europe (+4 EUR booking fee) instead of waiting for eurail.com. TER local train is the reservation not needed.
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